Cops, Apple Agents Search Man’s Home for Lost iPhone 5 Prototype

The search for the iPhone 5 prototype that was allegedly left in a bar earlier this week has gotten a new twist that could possibly lend some credibility to the strange tale.

A Bernal Heights man has come forward saying that investigators allegedly searched his home for the missing device, embarrassing him and his family.

The man said that six people claiming to be San Francisco Police officers questioned him and searched his family's home back in July for a lost iPhone 5 prototype, which they said was traced to the residence using GPS technology.

SF Weekly reported that police have said they did help Apple security to search the home of the Bernal heights man.

Earlier this week, tech-news site CNET reported that an unreleased iPhone was lost in at San Francisco's Cava 22, a self-described tequila lounge.

The CNET report stated that Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return.

They said the iPhone 5 prototype may have been sold on Craigslist for $200, and that Apple was later able to track down the iPhone 5 to a nearby house where it was retrieved.

The recent loss of the iPhone 5 prototype was a blatant echo of the loss of the iPhone 4 prototype last year, which led to a scandal as Apple and law-enforcement sought to recover the phone from the gadget blog Gizmodo, which purchased it for $5,000 from men who found it.

Apple delayed the launch of its forthcoming iPhone from a traditional summer release. Since then, the Internet has been rife with rumors about when the iPhone 5 will hit shelves in the U.S., what the product will look like, and how it will perform.